1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a splash guard mechanism suitable for a brake system for a vehicle, in particular, for an ATV (All Terrain Vehicle).
2. Description of Background Art
Vehicle are equipped with a brake system. In an ATV capable of traveling on an unpaved ground such as dirt or moor, it is necessary to strengthen measures against, particularly, the entry of mud into a brake system. Such measures have been proposed for example, in JP-A No. 2008-57707, see FIG. 11.
A related art will be described with reference to FIG. 11 of JP-A No. 2008-57707. Referring to FIG. 11, dirt (72) such as mud and gravel is deposited on a smallest-diameter portion (32a) of a rim, as shown in FIG. A1 (the bracketed reference signs are those transferred from JP-A No. 2008-57707, hereinafter described in the same manner). The smallest-diameter portion (32a) of the rim is a rotating body, and a brake disc guard (33) is a nonrotating body. A flange (38) extends from the brake disc guard (33) to the near side of the drawing.
When the smallest-diameter portion (32a) of the rim rotates in the direction shown by arrow F, a part of the dirt (72) falls down. The rest of the dirt (72) reaches an upper portion as shown in FIG. B1, and then is scraped off by a scraper (36) in FIG. C1.
The brake disc guard (33) includes a lower portion (41) that is widely cutout. The dirt (72) having fallen down in FIG. 11 sub-FIGS. A1, B1, and C1, is ejected to the far side of the drawing through the large opening of the lower portion (41).
That is to say, JP-A No. 2008-57707 discloses a splash guard mechanism for a vehicle in which the brake disc guard (33) is provided so as to prevent the entry of mud and gravel into a brake disc (30) provided in a wheel, and the lower portion (41) is provided with a cutout so as to easily eject therethrough mud and gravel having entered the brake disc (30).
However, a vehicle such as an ATV may travel on grass. Although grass having entered the brake disc (30) is also ejected through the cutout of the lower portion (41), grass is likely to become tangled therein as compared with mud and gravel. Therefore, the ejection of the grass becomes more difficult. For this reason, the entry of grass into the brake disc (30) is preferably suppressed as much as possible.